Plaque with nude

Henry Varnum Poor

ca. 1925–30 · Earthenware · The American Wing

Henry Varnum Poor was an artist, who like many, worked in multiple mediums. His work shows the influence of international art movements. Trained as a painter, Poor traveled and studied abroad, first in London at the Slade School of Fine Art, where he became acquainted with the work of of the Omega Workshops and Roger Fry, as well as modern French painting, and especially the work of Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, and others. After World War I, Poor established a small studio and home in Rockland County, New York. He often treated his ceramic surfaces as if they were canvases, primarily decorating tiles, plates, plaques, as seen here, and only occasionally vessel forms. Poor’s plate here of a standing nude woman recalls the cubism of Paul Cezanne.

Artist

Henry Varnum Poor

Date

ca. 1925–30

Medium

Earthenware

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Martin Eidelberg, 2020